Exploring North West Portugal

Walking in the Minho

October is a lovely month for exploring the northern part of Portugal if the weather is kind.  The temperature is not too hot to enjoy the fresh air and exercise, but it can be tempered with a little rain and mist.  This was when I explored the region on an independent walking holiday and was captivated by the gentle rolling countryside and welcoming, friendly people.

Sao Bento station

Catching the train from Porto at the Sao Bento railway station is a delight, inside the hall is covered in beautiful azulejo tiles depicting scenes from earlier times.  They are so impressive they almost took my breath away when I first saw them!  The first destination, Durrães, is a small village with a chocolate factory!  This is a handy destination if it rains - as indeed it did the following morning, delaying our walk to the old bridge of Ponte das Tábuas that crosses the Neiva River on the Caminho de Santiago pilgrim's route.  A tour of the Avianense factory (the oldest chocolate producer in Portugal) is interesting and since it ends with tastings of their famous chocolates I really enjoyed it - plus it was more fun than walking in the rain!

Avianense chocolate factory

With our backpacks weighed down with extra bars of chocolate and the rain having moved away we set off on the walk.  There had been quite a bit of rain, so much so that one of the bridges over the river on our route was flooded so alternate paths were found.  Luckily our walking notes had preempted such a situation (so it must happen often).

After a bit of a detour finding the correct path in woods we eventually arrived at the Ponte ready for a spot of lunch.  Crossing through this area is one of the pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, and we met a few pilgrims during our travels.  The pilgrim route is way-marked by a shell symbol so is easy to follow.

Ponte das Tábuas

Here our accommodation was Quinta de Malta, a lovely old manor house, which sits above the valley with extensive views over the Durrães Viaduct and surrounding countryside.  The traditional rooms are furnished with antiques and there is a swimming pool, games room and plenty of grounds to explore. 

Quinta da Malta garden

Quinta da Malta seen from the viaduct

The next day's walking mostly followed the Caminho de Santiago north to Facha and we greeted many pilgrims, wishing them a "Bom Caminho". The effort of climbing up to the church of Santuaro Nossa Senhora da Aparechida in Balugaes was well rewarded with panoramic views over the valleys and the discovery of an old olive mill cafe / restaurant next to a mill stream in Valinhas made a great stop for coffee. 

Continuing along the Caminho we passed through eucalyptus forests and stopped amid the scented air for our picnic lunch in the sunshine. This area is famous for Vinho Verde wine and we walked past many vineyards, the grapes now harvested and the vine leaves turning red in the autumn air.

Autumn colours in the vineyards

The Quinta do Casal do Conde, our overnight destination, is set in huge grounds with a lake and chestnut orchards.  During the summer months yoga retreats are held here and I can imagine it being a very serene location to unwind in.

Quinta do Casal do Conde

We timed our arrival at the peak of the chestnut harvest and saw well organised teams of locals collecting the nuts into buckets.  

Buckets of chestnuts harvested in the orchard

It is a strange experience walking through a chestnut orchard at this time of year, every few seconds there is the sound of a nut falling to the ground and we felt lucky not being hit by any! Later that evening, over dinner, our host Vitor told us that they were having a very good harvest with over 3000 kilos of nuts harvested that day. 

Teams of workers harvesting the chestnuts

The weather forecast for the next day's journey was for fog and later rain so we decided to try and get to our destination of Ponte de Lima before the rain arrived. The first part of the walk climbs up above the village and should have great views, unfortunately all we saw was mist among the vineyards and eucalyptus trees and hundreds of spider's webs sparkling with dew.  It was very atmospheric and in its way quite delightful.

Mist in the eucalyptus forest

After reaching the old hamlet of Passagem the route follows the banks of the Rio Lima on the Ecovia for most of the 10km to Ponte de Lima. There are egrets, herons, cormorants and kingfishers to spot if you are lucky but all we saw were lots of pond skaters and a single heron! It was very peaceful and we did find a nice sandy edged bend in the river for our picnic lunch.

The Rio Lima in the mist

An impressive avenue of plane trees welcomed our arrival into Ponte de Lima and we heard music playing as we walked through the trees, a bit of investigation revealed that the sounds were being broadcast from speakers in the lampposts lining the avenue!  The rain arrived just after we did so we decided to keep dry by exploring the Museum of Vinho Verde and learning about the local wines, their varieties and history followed by some refreshing tastings. I discovered that Vinho Verde is also made as a red wine, although it seems to be an acquired taste.

Avenue of plane trees in Ponte de Lima

Ponte de Lima is an ancient town, a place for pilgrims on the Caminho de Santiago to pass through along the Roman (and later Medieval extended) bridge over the river.  It still has remnants of the old town walls and the Torre da Cadeia Velha tower which houses the tourist information centre. 

The Ecovia trail is an easy route for walking or cycling and the following day we headed west on it along the north bank of the river to Bertiandos where there is a nature reserve with lakes and wetlands.  The walk along the river was lovely and the sun was shining, we saw herons, egrets and cormorants plus a grey/green coloured snake but no kingfishers... Bertinandos was a bit of a disappointment though, we arrived at the info centre when it was closed (12:30 - 14:00) so didn't pick up any maps. We didn't see much in the way of birdlife just a handful of ducks, a few butterflies and a large slowworm (or was it a small snake?). It was pleasant walking along the raised walkways but the stream beds were dried up and we didn't see much of the lakes (maybe they had dried up too?).  

Statue of a Roman General on the north bank of the Rio Lima

Ponte de Lima hosts a garden festival which was still on during our stay so we called in to the main festival gardens on our way back to the town. Most of the show gardens were representing climate change and its effects on the environment, quite thought provoking. 

Our final destination was the most splendid of all, the Quinta do Paco de Calheiros, up in the hills north of Ponte de Lima just a 9km walk away.  It was good to get some hills to climb again after two reasonably flat days of walking.  The Quinta is a fabulous place, surrounded by vineyards and chestnut groves and giving wonderful views over the Lima valley.  Luis, the manager, welcomed us and recommended a walk around the grounds which we did after a rest by the swimming pool.

The Quinta do Paco de Calheiros

The Quinta is the home of Count Francisco de Calheiros and we were invited for aperitifs at 6pm in the private lounge followed by a delicious dinner in the Count's private dining room.  One other couple were staying at the Quinta and as we were getting to know them over the aperitifs Count Francisco appeared and welcomed us to his home.  He was unable to stay for dinner but told us he was arranging a surprise event the next evening for us and a group of American tourists who were arriving the following day.  Dinner was delicious and very convivial, the wine was from the Quinta's vineyards and slipped down a treat.

On our last full day we did the best walk of the week, a 9km circuit around the peaks above the village of Calheiros. We walked up steep paths to a plateau with great views over the Lima valley.  We notice quite a lot of smoke in the valley and discovered later that there had been a ban on burning rubbish until 15th October due to terrible fires in 2017 so, as the ban was now lifted, many people were having small bonfires. Walking past many huge moss covered, round edged granite boulders we wondered how they had formed, some of them looked quite precariously placed.

Boulders and smoke

A swim was on the plan on our return to the Quinta and although the water was cold it was very refreshing and I enjoyed warming up in the sunshine and taking in the glorious views.

A dip in the pool

We gathered for drinks and a talk from the Count about the history of the Quinta with the American visitors, our new friends from the previous evening and four other travellers on the same route as us. Francisco was charming and entertaining and presided over another delicious dinner before the surprise arrived - a local folk band and dancers. We were entertained with music, singing and dancing which spilled out into the courtyard and the Count got everyone to join in! It was a great end to our stay in the Minho.

Folk dancing in the courtyard

We were treated to a glorious sunrise before we departed the following day, what a lovely place to be!

Sunrise at Quinta do Paco de Calheiros

This independent walking holiday was organised by Inntravel who specialise in 'Slow Travel', you can see details of the trip here.